In 2015, Jackie O’s brewery announced a plan to outfit its brewery with solar panels. That project, fulfilled by Third Sun Solar, inc., is set to wrap up sometime this month.
Cold beer and sunny days are a perfect pair for a number of reasons, and Jackie O’s Pub and Brewery just added another to the list: solar panels will soon help power their Campbell Street. brewery.
Jackie O’s announced last July it would begin installing 298 solar panels on its brewery and taproom. That process is winding down — it’s expected to wrap up around Earth Day, April 22.
The panels will generate energy equivalent to a little more than 72 percent of the brewery’s current usage, and after its expansion will contribute roughly 40 percent of the building’s total power, according to a blog post on Jackie O’s website.
“As you can see on the side of the can, the mission of the brewery is ‘sustainably crafted with purpose,’ and the company really believes that,” Allison Weber, assistant at Jackie O’s, said. “This is a step toward being more sustainable.”
A grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will help fund the project. Of the roughly $176,000 price tag, the grant will take care of about $44,000.
In addition to the grant, the panels mean Jackie O’s could be eligible for additional tax credits and rebates at the state and federal level.
The grant comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America Program, which helps small, rural businesses fund the installation and purchase of renewable energy systems.
Third Sun Solar, 762 W. Union St., has worked with Jackie O’s on the project.
“It’s been fantastic,” Geoff Greenfield, president of Third Sun Solar, said of working with Jackie O’s. “Sometimes we work with businesses and it’s very professional and boring. But with clients like Jackie O’s, it’s exciting, creative and fun.”
Third Sun Solar just had the best quarter in the history of the company, Greenfield said, adding that solar power numbers are up across the state of Ohio.
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He said he thinks more businesses are looking toward alternative energy because it’s beginning to make financial sense.
“The same project three years ago wouldn’t have made financial sense,” Greenfield said of the Jackie O’s project. “Today it’s a much different story. The cost of solar power has gone down, and the cost of traditional power has gone up.”
@JeremyHTweets
jh082913@ohio.edu
